- Cong gets majority winning 30 seats, NCP bags 10
- BJP reduced to 15 seats
The BJP suffered a major jolt in the Zilla Parishad elections in Nagpur district, the results of which were announced on Wednesday. The Congress and NCP alliance wrested Nagpur ZP from the BJP with Congress attaining the majority by winning 30 seats on its own.
NCP too managed to win 10 seats, which the BJP tally got reduced to just 15 in the 58-member House. Shiv Sena, which has forged an alliance with the Congress and NCP in State, won one seat.
Congress had contested on 42 seats while NCP contested on 16 seats. There were 59 seats in the ZP when elections were held last time of which BJP had won 22 while Congress got just 19. This time BJP suffered a loss of seven seats while Congress succeeded in winning 11 more seats to get a simple majority. NCP too succeeded in increasing its tally from seven to 10. However, Shiv Sena suffered a major blow as its strength got reduced to just one from eight, which it had won in the previous ZP election.
What was more embarrassing for the BJP was defeat in Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s native village Dhapewada. Congress candidate Mahendra Dongre won the Dhapewada seat in the election held on Tuesday defeating BJP nominee Maruti Somkuvar. Dongre secured 9,444 votes, while Somkuvar received 5,501 votes, the official said.
The ZP’s Dhapewada circle (seat) was with the BJP for the last three terms. This time the seat in Kalmeshwar taluka of the district was reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. The BJP also tasted defeat in Koradi, the home town of former minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
Meanwhile, State home minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh’s son Salil too emerged victoriously has won from Metpanjara in Katol Tehsil. Dinesh Bang, son of former minister Ramesh Bang, also emerged a winner.
Meanwhile, an independent candidate who won from Umred tehsil too has announced support to Congress-NCP alliance. The Nagpur ZP has 58 circles (seats) where polling was held on Tuesday and counting of votes taken up on Wednesday.
In Panchayat Samiti too, Congress emerged as the single largest group. It won 59 out of 116 seats while BJP was at a distant second with 24 seats. NCP won 23 seats while Shiv Sena bagged seven seats. Independents and others got three seats.